Colorado Rep. Cory Gardner declared to Newsmax TV that “the path to the White House certainly goes through Colorado” – and that the candidate who will be traveling that road on Nov. 6 is Mitt Romney.

“Colorado is getting a tremendous amount of attention already,” the first-term GOP congressman tells Newsmax in an exclusive interview.

“Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney are going to be here regularly. They were going to be regularly as it was, but the fact is it’s not being affected by any of the storm events on the East Coast, and we’re lucky for that.

Watch the exclusive interview here.

“But you’ll see an uptick of activity because Colorado’s one of the places that matters — and it’s certainly one of the places that they can get to.”

National polls are showing Romney in a dead heat with President Barack Obama in Colorado. But four years ago, Obama won the state’s nine electoral votes by taking 53.6 percent of the vote, compared with 44.7 percent by Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain.

“Mitt Romney is campaigning on issues that Coloradans care more about: about opportunity, about job-creation, about the entrepreneurial spirit,” Gardner said. “Colorado is a very innovative and entrepreneurial state.

“If you look at the attacks that President Obama has been making in Colorado against Gov. Romney: He’s been attacking venture capital. He’s been attacking entrepreneurs, small businesses – and that’s what’s made Colorado so strong over the past 15 to 20 years. It’s what’s made Colorado grow and attract some of the nation’s most exciting businesses.

“So while Mitt Romney talks about a positive message of job-creation, of getting our country back on track – Colorado’s unemployment still remains above the national average – President Obama has been hitting more of the same policies that failed this state for the past four years,” Gardner added.

The congressman pointed to the recent turnout at Obama rallies in the state as a sign of his waning public support.

“In my district, Fort Collins, Colorado, home to Colorado State University, President Obama showed up about a month ago — and there were only 13,000 people that showed up, compared to four years ago, when he came to Colorado State and 53,000 people showed up.

“In Denver, just a couple of days ago, last week, the president was here and 16,000 people showed up, compared to a similar time frame four years ago when over 100,000 people showed up.

“So nine out of 10 people stayed home in Denver; four out five people stayed home at Colorado State University,” Gardner concluded. “This is a president who is losing his way in Colorado – and he will have lost it completely by November 6th.”

Surveys show that the race comes down to about 100,000 undecided voters. The first presidential debate, on Oct. 3 at the University of Denver, sealed the deal with Romney for them, Gardner said.

“What voters in Colorado saw, as they did across the nation, during that first debate in Denver, they saw through the attacks that President Obama had made. They were able to see through the paint that Barack Obama has tagged him with.

“They saw a very thoughtful man, a very smart man, a very intelligent job-creator – and that’s why these artificial attacks to create class barriers and class divides by the president aren’t going to work,” Gardner said. “Those 100,000 voters are moving toward the Republican ticket – and Mitt Romney is going to benefit from that. We could see the excitement at Red Rocks, that incredible rally just last week.

“That was not a rally just to attend a political event; that was attended by people who believe Mitt Romney’s going to be the next president of the United States.”